One Last Chance
by neradia3
Summary: -Alternate ending to 5X11 sort of- Katherine is dying from the cure, but a visit from Elena before her official death surprised her. When Elena tries to confess something to Katherine, her insecurities get the best of her. ¡One Shot! ¡Kelena!


_Katherine was on her death bed and she didn't quite mind that it was at the Salvatore house. At least it was better than a dirty hospital bed. For her, she was glad that she wasn't wearing those hospital gowns. She would rather die in something more her. _

_While everyone was downstairs having a good time knowing Katherine will finally die after all the terrible things she __has done to literally everyone in Mystic Falls, Katherine was feeling like it might as well be her last hour in this world. She had lived 535 years, long enough to get her daughter back, take Elena's happiness, and have Stefan fall for her again after what had happened in 1864._

_After Katherine thought she was gone for good, being seen by no other than Bonnie who happened to be downstairs with the others, Katherine woke up from her unconsciousness, breathing heavily, gasping for every breath she possibly could. Elena watched Katherine pant as if she had lost her breath and frowned. "Wow, you really don't want to die, do you?" she asked Katherine, quite surprised that Katherine was still alive. "I swear I just heard your heart stop."_

_Katherine only gave Elena a look that she usually gave Elena, hate. "Where am I?" she breathed deeply, hoping that seeing Elena in front of her was a nightmire._

_"Still alive," Elena answered simply._

_Her doppelgänger let out a sigh of relief. "I thought I was a goner there for a second. But I still have unfinished business." To Elena, her voice sounded faded. She couldn't believe herself if she said that she felt bad for Katherine. After all that she's been through, she shouldn't have to die. She succeeded and survived. Katherine was a survivor. An amazing, beautiful survivor._

_"So do I," the vampire told Katherine, her voice growing softer and more gentle. "I had this whole speech that I was preparing to give your unconscious body."_

_Katherine sighed. "Let me guess. Hate, loathe, screw you…" Elena frowned at Katherine's said guess. Her speech wasn't even close to what Katherine had guessed, but she continued anyways. "…die, bitch, et cetera."_

_Elena nodded. "Yes. Plus one more thing." Katherine glanced up at Elena, shocked that she wasn't exactly correct. Her doppelgänger exchanged eye contact with the now human Katherine, her eyes close to filling with tears. With tears… "I… I forgive you."_

_"You what?" Katherine asked her, her voice raspy, not expecting Elena to say that, to forgive her._

_"I forgive you," she repeated. "You weren't born evil. Your life made you that way. You lost everyone that you cared about way too young and you didn't have a family to look after you. Sound familiar?"_

_Katherine shook her head slightly. "Is this the… 'we're not so different you and I' doppelgänger speech? Because I'd be happy to skip it." Elena smiled a little, knowing that Katherine would ask that question._

_Elena bit her lip. She didn't know what else to say. She did, but she wasn't ready to tell her dying doppelgänger that… The vampire shook her head. "No. There's more to it than that. There's more to that 'one more thing'." Katherine rose her eye brows. "I understand that we're truly alike each other. Both of our fates will eventually turn out the same. One day, I'll be a five hundred year-old vampire just like you are now, except good instead of evil. You being evil, it doesn't change how I feel about you."_

_"How you feel about me?" Katherine asked, her eyes wide._

_Elena's eyes wandered away from Katherine's. "I mean, I was afraid of you at first. After that, everything changed for me. Yeah, you were evil and cruel to me and my friends, but you protected me from Klaus and other countless people. You were there, if you liked it or not, when my friends weren't." A tear slid down Elena's cheek. "I want to thank you for that. But now, you're dying. And I won't be able to see you again. I would have officially lost everyone I cared about, including you."_

_Katherine sighed and subconsciously placed her hand on top of Elena's, wanting to comfort her in some way or encouraging her to continue. "What are you trying to say?" _

_"I wish I had more time…"_

_"But you obviously don't," Katherine retorted. "Can't you see that I'm dying?" _

_Elena looked down at Katherine's hand on top of her's. "Katherine Pierce, although you were mean and rude, I ended up seeing passed it. I saw you for you. Not some five hundred year-old evil vampire. Well, now your a five hundred year-old human. But that still doesn't change anything, at least not what I'm feeling and what I felt. If I never met you, I probably would still be clinging to Stefan. If I never met you, my life wouldn't be the same." _

_Katherine coughed, bringing more tears to Elena's eyes, knowing that she doesn't have much longer. "Just say it."_

_"Katherine…" Elena stuttered. "I-" _

_Elena was quickly interrupted by another cough escaping Katherine's lips. "Now maybe you can help a girl out and give me one more syringe, and if anyone's gonna plunge a needle in me one last time," Katherine swallowed, "may as well be you. Symmetry and all that."_

_"I didn't finish… I still need to tell you-" Katherine interrupted her again._

_"Please Elena," Katherine begged. _

_Elena nodded and reached over to Katherine's bedside, moving her hand out from under her's. She grabbed the syringe and met her eyes with Katherine's before she took off the cap of the syringe. Her hand began to shake as she took a hold of Katherine's arm. Right as she was going to stick the needle into Katherine's forearm, she stopped herself and looked back at her dying doppelgänger. "I can't…" Elena whispered, tears threatening to fall. _

_Katherine showed not one expression on her face. "You have to. For me, please… I have to die eventually." Elena shook her head. "Please…"_

_"I can't let you die Katherine. But because I…" Elena shook her head and slowly planted the needle of the syringe in Katherine's skin, the unknown liquid seeping into her system. She carefully took the syringe out of her forearm and set it back down on the bedside table. _

_"Elena… thank you…" Katherine slowly closed her eyes, sinking into un__consciousness. A couple tears ran down Elena's cheeks as she watched her doppelgänger die._

_Elena only continued to cry, knowing that Katherine wasn't going to come back. She was gone, for good and she was never able to tell her that she loved her. After all this time that they've known each other, Elena finally confessed to herself that she did truly love Katherine even though there was a huge possibility that Katherine would not love her back. Elena didn't care if Katherine loved her back or not… Well, maybe she did. But now that Katherine was gone, there was no chance of telling her doppelgänger that she loved her. _

_Katherine still being in her dead state, Elena allowed one last tear to fall before she leaned closer to her, gently placing a kiss to her doppelgänger's forehead. "I love you, K-Katherine…" _

* * *

Elena was sitting alone in front of the fire place at the Salvatore house. Not one person was home except her. She was happy that she was alone. Being alone has never made her happier.

In her hands, Elena held the picture of Katherine from 1864 close to her, protecting it from the flames like she would protect Katherine herself. Elena dearly missed her doppelgänger. Every day, she wished for her to come back and pull her into her arms, saying how much that she loved her too. To Elena, those were only dreams, not reality. She wished that it was reality, but something's that are close to becoming reality don't exactly make it there. Elena always thought that dreaming was a form of torture because either way, it wouldn't come true.

Elena held the picture out in front of her and frowned. Only if she told Katherine that she loved her earlier, things would be different. She had to blame her insecurity. If it wasn't for her insecurity, her and Katherine would have had some kind of connection that could last forever, but Elena never got that.

"I'm sorry, Katherine," Elena whispered to herself as she held the picture close to the fire. "I should have said something sooner." The picture escaped Elena's grasp and landed in the fire, burning wildly and fiercely, just like Katherine.


End file.
